100,000 Miles 100,000 Memories

On a recent road trip, my car reached 100,000 miles. I am a bit sentimental about such things. A couple years ago I burnt up a mixer around Christmas time making divinity. The mixer was a wedding gift and it had traveled the country with us. I wasn't sad that the mixer died. I was just thinking about all the memories.

I've probably mentioned my love of road trips and my tendency to be a bit of a control freak. Those two things combined mean I am the one who has driven most of those 100,000 miles.

The story of this trip began right before Aaron was born. We were a one car family and had a black Saturn we had purchased the first year we were married. We were living in California and P.K. had to go to San Diego for some medical tests. He, Rachel and I piled into our little Saturn for the trip. Rachel would have been about 18 months old so there was a lot of baby gear to pack for an overnight trip. By the time we loaded everything in that car, there was room for the three of us to sit and that was it. I mentioned to P.K. that if we were ever to take a trip after the new baby came we would have to have a larger vehicle. The Saturn had many, many miles on it at the time as well. It had made many trips between Boston and Evansville, Evansville and St. Louis and of course the cross country drive to California.

We began our search for a mom-mobile and purchased a used minivan from another officer on base. Lemon from the beginning, but it lasted until after Hannah was born. It was a four cylinder. Any major shopping had to be done "down the hill." Which is what you had to drive to get down to Palm Desert, Palm Springs, etc. If I got behind a slow moving vehicle coming back up the hill, I couldn't get past 35 miles an hour. The van really needed a good running start.

We actually brought Aaron home from the hospital in the van. I remember Rachel running out to meet us and I thought she was excited to see me. She ran right past me and climbed up into that van to find baby "An-non."

The van was not running correctly and I tried my best to convince the mechanics on base that something was wrong. They assured me it was fine. After Hannah was born, I took a road trip up to Monterey to visit my friend who was stationed there. I had a weird light on almost the entire trip. I was sure the van was going to die while I was in the middle of nowhere with an infant, two year old and four year old. When I got back, P.K. took the van in and I was right. There were some major problems that were going to cost thousands of dollars to fix. P.K. called me and and said, "We are getting you a new car. Choose what you want because you are going to drive it for ten years." No problem! I knew what I wanted. A Ford Expedition with a factory installed DVD player. Nothing more, nothing less.

Just after Christmas we made one more trip "down the hill" in the van and traded it in for a gold 2004 Ford Expedition with a factory installed DVD player. We (the Expedition and I) have been in love ever since.

We have criss-crossed the country together. California to Virginia, Florida to Wisconsin. I have crammed in friends and their kids for many fun outings. I have listened to Barney, Dora, Bibleman and High School Musical more times than any sane person should have to endure. The kids have laughed, cried and thrown up in there. The Expedition has carried us to SeaWorld, Legoland, the Grand Canyon, Florida beaches, the nation's capitol, Lake Michigan and of course took me safely to and from my half marathon. It has been to weddings and driven in funeral processions. The kids have been driven to and from school, Scouts, soccer practice, sleepovers, birthday parties, taekwondo and swimming lessons. I drove it through the blur of tears as we left 29 Palms and my heart broke. I yelled with excitement in it when my friend, Becky, called to tell me she was expecting a new baby. The kids immediately told me, "Mommy, it is not safe to yell in the car like that." It has worn a license plate from four different states. The windshield has taken rocks and been replaced three different times.

If you look deeply enough you can probably still find sand from the desert of 29 Palms. The amount of survival food (french fries and M&Ms that have dropped under seats and can't be reached, but in an emergency could be accessed somehow) in the crevices could probably sustain us for days if we are ever lost in the wilderness.

If I can squeeze another 100,000 miles and another 100,000 memories out of her, I will.

Weekend Recap

We had Rachel's birthday party on Friday. It was fun and interesting to meet her new friends. There are certain personality types that make up each circle of friends. As I spent time with this group of girls, I could match up the personality of a new friend with the personality of one of Rachel's friends at her old school.

It was also nice to meet the parents. One of her little friends moved to the United States from Romania about 6 years ago. Another little girl just moved from England about 10 months ago. Kind of made our move seem pretty insignificant.

Rachel decided she didn't want to choose a theme for her party. Instead she chose to decorate with orange and pink.

I found these flowers in the dollar section at Target. They made a fun centerpiece for the table and each of the girls pulled one from the bouquet to take home at the end of the party.

As the party guests arrived we had them decorate their own goody bags. I was surprised how much time and detail they put into this project.

They ate pizza and then made these doorknob hangers. Foamies are a wonderful thing. As long as you get the kind that have the sticky backs, no glue is needed.

Rachel doesn't like cake with a lot of frosting (she doesn't get that from me) so we usually get her a cookie cake.

By the time they had their cookie and ice cream it was time to open gifts and parents started to arrive.

I went to a meeting at the school yesterday and the only other parents who attended were two I had met through Rachel's party. It is nice to have some connections.

Then on Saturday my mom, aunt and grandma came to visit from Indiana. They left this morning. My grandmother doesn't get around really well and doesn't venture out very often so it was a huge deal that she came to visit. We spent a lot of time reliving family folklore. You know the stories you have heard all of your life. Some of them you were even a part of, but you don't know if you really remember it or you've just heard them so many times you think you remember.

I was looking forward to making some memories around the new table and I made some fun ones this weekend.